Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Fulbrights Score with Support from Colleges, Universities

Yanet Chernet

   The U.S. Department of State has released the names of scholars who
   have been selected for the coveted Fulbright Scholarships, with an
   emphasis on the colleges and universities that produced the most
   successful applicants.

   "When I received my letter, I was in the car with my friend, and I
   screamed for probably a full minute," said Amanda Cronin, a senior at
   Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who wasnotifiedonFebruary
   25thatshe would be placed in an English teaching program in Argentina
   next March.

   The COVID-19 pandemic has stalled the popular visiting program as
   Fulbright scholars are prevented from traveling without
   restrictions.This year, Fulbright published a list of colleges and
   universitieswhichlent intense support and advice to students while they
   compile the considerable documentation and timerequiredto apply to the
   Fulbright program.

   The scholarships are awarded to young professionals in the U.S. with a
   bachelor's degree and to faculty, administrators, or researchers of
   U.S. institutions toparticipatein education and cultural exchanges
   around the world.

   For international students, researchers and young professionals, the
   program brings about 4,000 Fulbright Foreign Students and Visiting
   Scholars to the United States from more than 160 countries worldwide
   each year to study, lecture, conduct research, or teach their native
   language in U.S. institutions of higher education, according to its
   [1]website.

   This year's top research institutions that award doctoral degrees are
   Georgetown University in District of Columbia (39 scholars), Brown
   University in Rhode Island (38), Harvard University in Massachusetts
   (35), Princeton University in New Jersey (34), Yale University in
   Connecticut (32), University of Chicago in Illinois (31), New York
   University in New York City (29), University of Notre Dame in Indiana
   (29), Columbia University in New York City (28), University of
   Michigan-Ann Arbor in Michigan (28).

   This year's top 10 Fulbright producing institutions that award
   bachelor's degrees are Bowdoin College in Maine (24 scholars),
   SmithCollege in Massachusetts (16), Middlebury College in Vermont (15),
   Oberlin College in Ohio (14), Amherst College in Massachusetts (13),
   Davidson College in North Carolina (13), Franklin and Marshall College
   in Pennsylvania (11), Macalester College in Minnesota (11), Williams
   College in Massachusetts (11) and Bate College in Maine (10).

   "These experiences often lay the foundation for Fulbright and
   otherpostgraduateresearch proposals," said Janice Jaffe, acting
   director of student fellowships and research at Bowdoin College in
   Maine. Students apply each year to engage in independent
   faculty-mentored research, she toldVOA.

   Margaret Lamb, the director of fellowshipsandpostgraduatescholarships
   at Smith College in Massachusetts said manystudentsatthe college come
   from abroad and that the school's study abroad program is robust.

   "Our students see themselves as activists, change makers, and
   scholars," [2]Lamb said.

   [3]Smith College has a program named [4]Smith's Fulbright Fast Track,
   with goals of connecting faculty and staff with students and helping
   them design their proposals. Studentscanchoose a host country, an
   English teaching assistantship or research project, and planning
   curriculum and study abroad projects with guidance from faculty and
   staff and to improve their proposals.

   "The fact that so many in our community -- faculty, advisers, alumnae,
   and peers -- are familiar with Fulbright [Program] helps get candidates
   started on defining a personal Fulbright project and in gathering the
   support to prepare an application that meets the requirements of the
   program withrigor, creativity, and confidence," Lamb told VOA in an
   email response.

   The U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International
   Education (IIE), anexchange program,have been working with [5]Fulbright
   Commissions and U.S. embassies around the world to assess when the
   Fulbright Scholars Program can resume.

   Resumption of travel for the programwill depend on travel warnings from
   the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta
   and the State Department, the ability of participants to obtain visas,
   flight availability, the operating status of foreign host institutions,
   administrative resources at U.S. embassies, and the availability of
   local facilities to protect public health, the Fulbright Scholars
   websitestatedin [6]October 2020.

   If in-person exchanges are not possible, 2020-2021 Fulbright scholars
   may defer their start dates. However, once a host country has been
   approved for an in-person exchange, Fulbright finalists do not have
   theoptionfor country re-assignments, nor can they extend beyond the
   year they are awarded.

   For finalists that withdraw from the cycle, they will be considered
   aFulbright alumniand may re-apply for future Fulbright cycles,
   according to the Fulbright website.

   Rene Cordero is a 2020Fulbrighterwho was planning
   towritehisdissertationabout student political movements during the
   1960s and 1970s in the Dominican Republic during the authoritarian
   regime of Joaquin Balaguer. He planned to do research in the country's
   government agency, Archivo General de laNación(General Archive of the
   Nation). However, Cordero's research wasimpacteddue to the pandemic.

   "I have had to alter some of the structure of mydissertation" said
   Cordero, a graduate student at Brown University in Rhode Island. "It
   has also hindered the oral history aspects of my research."

   Allison Cheung, another 2019 Fulbright Scholar, was conducting research
   on the accuracy of diagnostic tests in new diseases at the University
   of Melbourne when the pandemic halted travel last year. She remained in
   Australia to continue her research, postponing her plans to attend
   medical school in the U.S.

   "I was worried that if I stayed here [in Australia], I wouldn't be able
   to go back to the U.S. in time to start medical school," said Cheung in
   a video interview on the Fulbright YouTube channel. "But then I
   realized that this is an opportunity that I'll probably only have once
   in my career, to work directly in a global pandemic."

   As a new[7]Fulbrighter, Cronin said she understands how the pandemic
   has taken a toll on students whoanticipatedtravel. "I do feel really
   awful for those students who weren't able to travel after working so
   hard," she said in a video interview with VOA. "Because I know how
   intense the application processes and I mean, we're all feeling the
   effects of this pandemic. But this one is tough, because it isseemingly
   acombination of your accomplishments, and then youcan'tfollow through
   on it anddemonstratethat you have theability."

   However, Croninremainsoptimistic about the future. "I don't mind at all
   if it is a delayed start date. Just having the award is a huge honor
   and [an]accomplishment in itself," she said. "Ayear from now, we will
   hopefully be in a better place as a country here[theU.S.].And as a
   world, in general, because vaccine distribution has been increasing
   across the board."

References

   1. https://foreign.fulbrightonline.org/about/foreign-student-program
   2. https://www.smith.edu/fulbright/questions.php
   3. https://sophia.smith.edu/fellowships-information/
   4. https://www.smith.edu/fulbright/faq.php#where
   5. https://eca.state.gov/fulbright/about-fulbright/funding-and-administration/fulbright-commissions
   6. https://cies.org/coronavirus-covid-19
   7. https://us.fulbrightonline.org/countries/selectedprogram/234

.